Remote learning guidance for parents

Our mission: High Achieving – Student Centred

Whether the learning is taking place on site or remotely, the mission of Shipston High School remains the same. Our aim is to prepare young people to play an active part in society by providing them with the exceptional skills, qualifications and attitudes that will benefit themselves and others, locally, nationally and internationally.

Alongside this we continue to promote the Shipston High values of:

• Learning
• Respect
• Ambition
• Achievement

What is remote learning?
Remote learning allows students to continue accessing the curriculum beyond the classroom through activities set online.

A remote learning activity could include:

• Live Lessons’ via Microsoft Teams
• Independent tasks
• Past Papers, model answers and solutions

Remote learning following a school closure
During a period of school closure, such as for Coronavirus closures as directed by the Department for Education (DfE) we will remain open for the children of Key Workers and for vulnerable children. It is expected that students during this time will follow their normal school timetable when working remotely during this period.

Teachers will continue to follow their planned curriculum where possible and appropriate, and will post work for their lesson by 08:30 each morning through the ‘Posts’ section on Teams. Live lessons will be scheduled to supplement the set work and will run through the Microsoft Teams platform. When live lessons are provided, they will run at the same time as they normally would on each child’s current school timetable.

When work is set each morning, any live sessions will be stated clearly in the instructions. Students can then access their Teams lessons through their class Team. Live lessons and independent tasks are planned to last no longer than 50 minutes, to help encourage students to take a break away from the screen.

If families experience any issues regarding access to devices or the internet please contact the school office.

If students are sent home to isolate
If a student has to self-isolate or if it is a partial sending home of a year group, students will have access to work on Teams ‘Assignments’, this will start from the day after they are first asked to isolate.

If a whole year group is sent home to isolate, the above school closure protocols will be enacted for that year group.

Feedback and monitoring engagement
Teachers will continue to monitor engagement with remote learning and contact will be made with families where needed.  Regular feedback will be given to students in a variety of ways, which include but are not limited to; verbal feedback within live lessons, activities for students to complete based on a review of class work and written feedback explaining areas of development.

As a school, we expect that students will continue to engage with their five lessons a day as they would during a normal school day, and that when asked to by the teacher, they upload completed work to Teams. There is no expectation that students complete work outside of the usual school day timings.

How will students’ work be assessed?
Students will not be asked to submit work every lesson. The work that they will be required to submit will be made clear to them by their teacher. Work to be assessed will be submitted using the Teams assignment feature. Assessment may also be via online assessments/quizzes or via testing upon their return to school.

Additional support for pupils with particular needs

We recognise that some students, for example some students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), may not be able to access remote education without support from adults at home. We acknowledge the difficulties this may place on families, and we will work with parents and carers to support those pupils in the following ways:

• During a school closure, the school will remain open for those students who have an EHCP.
• Work will continue with external agencies who are currently working with students.
• The SENCO will continue to keep families updated with information from different agencies that would be useful in helping to support families.
• During a time of whole school remote learning there will be a mixture of live lessons and independent tasks so students have access to a variety of learning tasks.
• If a student is struggling to access the remote learning, families are advised to communicate this to the SENCO.

What if I have a safeguarding/well-being concern?
If you have a safeguarding concern, you are reminded that Mrs Wright is the Designated Safeguarding Lead (kwright@shipstonhigh.co.uk)

Students should be mindful of their own mental health whilst working at home without the usual interactions. We encourage them to maintain an appropriate level of digital contact with their School friends.

Whilst working at home they should:

• Limit the length of screen time to 50 minutes per hour
• Take regular breaks where they should exercise.
• Sit at a desk or table and not complete work lying down

DfE report on remote education:

What’s working well in remote education – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Signing into Microsoft Teams for the first time if you’re a student – Video

View all of our Remote Learning content below